It all came down to the fourth set of the match, which was to decide the two teams’ destiny. Barkom Kazhany dominated the crucial set to claim a 3-1 (25-22, 24-26, 25-21, 25-14) victory. Had the visitors from Nysa won that set, they would have been the ones rejoicing their survival tonight. The squad from Lviv collected 26 points and surpassed Stal in the final regular season standings to finish in 13th place, just above the cut-off for relegation. Just a point below them, on 25, Stal dropped to the 14th place and had to face their unfortunate fate.
Estonian outside hitter Mart Tammearu was the man of the match, leading Barkom Kazhany to victory with a match-high 22 points. His tally included three aces and three kill blocks, and a 56% success rate in attack, enough to earn him the Most Valuable Player (MVP) recognition. His cross-court teammate Ilia Kovalov impressed with five kill blocks to finish with a total of 19 points. Opposite Vasyl Tupchii and middle blocker Andrii Rohozhyn also reached the double digits with 15 and 10 points, respectively. Rohozhyn’s account included five stuffs in blocking as well. Meanwhile, outside Michal Gierzot was Stal’s most prolific scorer with 20 points, including four aces.
